Dulce de Leche Chocolate Cupcakes

Okay, I am not sure where to start with these cupcakes. I guess the best place to start is at the beginning. 

 

I was making these cupcakes to take into work and the chocolate cupcake that was with the recipe did not turn out, more on that here. So once I found a much better chocolate cupcake recipe, I continued with the recipe. All went as planned, except for the dulce de leche drizzle on the frosting. Dulce de leche is thicker than caramel, so in order to drizzle it I warmed it up a little bit, but did not want to warm it up to much and have it melt the frosting. It did not drizzle very well.

Once I tried the cupcake, I knew I had a winner except for the frosting. I was not in love with the frosting. It is a chocolate dulce de leche frosting and it tasted like chocolate. I did not get any dulce de leche flavor except for the drizzle. Between the chocolate cupcake and the chocolate frosting, it was a bit much with the chocolate and not enough dulce de leche for me. This isn't to say the frosting was bad, it tasted good, it just wasn't the flavor I was looking for.

In the following days, I came across a dulce de leche frosting that sounded amazing. So I made the frosting and put it on the cupcakes that did not turn out so well. The frosting was amazing and exactly what I was looking for to top these delicious cupcakes. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup boiling water

Dulce de Leche Frosting

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2-13.4 ounce cans dulce del leche, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325º F. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, add in the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and espresso powder. Whisk until the mixture is well combined.
3. Add in the milk, canola oil, egg and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Reduce the speed to low and slowly and carefully pour in the boiling water while mixing. Increase the speed to high and and beat for 1 minutes.
4. Fill the cupcake liners about 1/2 full with batter, 3 tablespoons with give you a flat top and 4 tablespoons will give you a dome top.
5. Bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
6. Remove the muffin tin from the oven and then remove the cupcakes from the tin and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
7. Once the cupcakes have cooled, use a small sharp knife and cut a small hole in the middle of each cupcake. Do not cut the hole too wide of deep as the cupcakes may fall apart when the wrappers are removed and the cupcake is bitten into.
8. Fill each hole with 1-2 teaspoons of dulce de leche.
9. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter until light. 
10. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and 2/3 cup dulce de leche. Beat until creamy and smooth.
11. On a large piece of plastic wrap, pipe or spoon a line of ducle de leche. Spoon the frosting next to the line of dulce de leche. Roll up the plastic wrap to create a log and twist the ends to keep the frosting in. 
12. Place the frosting log into a pipping bag fitted with a wide round pipping tip. Pull the end of the plastic wrap through the tip of the pipping bag and cut it off so the frosting can pipe through.
13. Pipe swirls of frosting onto each cupcake.

Enjoy!!!

Notes:

Depending on how much dulce de leche you put into the cupcakes and how much you use when pipping the frosting you may need more than 1 can.

*Adapted from Baker by Nature and House of Nash Eats and Add a Pinch.